Helen Bain on Syliva Plath’s daffodil days episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 17, 2026 · 24 MIN

Helen Bain on Syliva Plath’s daffodil days

from Standard Issue Podcast · host Standard Issue

For her debut novel, Helen Bain chose one of her heroes as her focus: poet, author, arch-confessionist and genius, Sylvia Plath. The Daffodil Days spans a year and a half in Plath’s life, during which she and husband Ted Hughes head to Devon seeking the idyll of country living.  During that time, Plath completed The Bell Jar, gave birth to a son, Nicholas, and wrote the poems that would be posthumously published as Ariel. But she also threw herself full-heartedly into the Devon life, and it’s this and what it tells us about Plath, which Helen so beautifully explores in The Daffodil Days.  She chats to Mick about Plath, female genius, daffodils, hope and bellringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For her debut novel, Helen Bain chose one of her heroes as her focus: poet, author, arch-confessionist and genius, Sylvia Plath. The Daffodil Days spans a year and a half in Plath’s life, during which she and husband Ted Hughes head to Devon seeking the idyll of country living.  During that time, Plath completed The Bell Jar, gave birth to a son, Nicholas, and wrote the poems that would be posthumously published as Ariel. But she also threw herself full-heartedly into the Devon life, and it’s this and what it tells us about Plath, which Helen so beautifully explores in The Daffodil Days.  She chats to Mick about Plath, female genius, daffodils, hope and bellringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Helen Bain on Syliva Plath’s daffodil days

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This episode was published on March 17, 2026.

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For her debut novel, Helen Bain chose one of her heroes as her focus: poet, author, arch-confessionist and genius, Sylvia Plath. The Daffodil Days spans a year and a half in Plath’s life, during which she and husband Ted Hughes head to Devon seeking...

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